Formal Steps Toward a Doctorate
Once the general framework for the doctoral project has been clarified – e.g., formal requirements, funding, expected duration, required research resources, and infrastructure – you and your prospective doctoral candidates initiate the formal steps toward the doctorate together. KHYS supports you and your doctoral researchers with information on its ▶ website as well as through personal consultation.
Brief definition: Doctoral researchers at KIT conduct research on KIT-related topics and typically receive (subject-specific) supervision at KIT. The doctoral degree is awarded either by a KIT Department or by a department at another university.
The latter group exists at KIT primarily due to its unique role as the University in the Helmholtz Association and includes doctoral researchers who carry out the majority of their research at KIT (for at least two years) and receive subject-specific guidance there, while the doctoral examination will be completed at another university.
Doctoral Researchers with Examination at a KIT Department
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Conclusion of a Doctoral Agreement
As soon as you confirm that you will supervise a doctoral candidate you must conclude a ▶ doctoral agreement with them. If you cannot do this immediately, the agreement must be signed no later than three months after the confirmation of supervision.
Please use the conclusion of the doctoral agreement deliberately to spell out mutual expectations and to establish a binding framework for jointly shaping the doctoral phase. The ▶ Guidelines for the Doctorate at KIT provide useful guidance and ideas.
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Registration with KHYS and Use of Docata
After the doctoral agreement has been signed, each doctoral researcher must register obligatorily in ▶ Docata, the central web portal for early‑career researchers at KIT.
Please ensure that each doctoral researcher has a ▶ KIT account. Doctoral researchers employed by KIT receive a KIT account automatically as part of the hiring process. A KIT account can be issued to doctoral researchers who are funded externally – such as scholarship holders or external doctoral candidates – through the Guest and Partner Administration.
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Acceptance as Doctoral Researcher at a KIT Department
Within six months of signing the doctoral agreement and completing the Docata registration, each doctoral researcher must submit an application for acceptance to the appropriate KIT Department.
The doctoral phase officially begins with the acceptance by the Doctoral Admissions Committee. At that moment the doctoral researcher also becomes a member of the ▶ convention of doctoral researchers of your KIT Department.
Acceptance by the KIT Department guarantees that your doctoral researchers fulfil all formal requirements set out in the doctoral regulations, and indicates whether supplementary requirements must be fulfilled during the doctoral period. For international doctoral researchers who intend to come to Germany on a study visa, the acceptance process should be started as early as possible, because the letter of acceptance is required for enrolment as a doctoral student. Only after being accepted can doctoral researchers fully profit from KHYS programs – such as interdisciplinary qualification courses and funding opportunities.
A detailed description of the remaining formal steps for doctoral researchers with examination at a KIT Department is available ▶ here.
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Your Benefit from Docata
As a supervisor you can view a concise summary of key framework data for each of your doctoral researchers who have already been accepted by the KIT Department via Docata. In the portal you can review and edit information about the researchers’ projects, such as assignment to PoF projects and type of cooperation. These data are essential for KIT’s statutory reporting obligations including the doctoral researcher statistics and reporting to the Helmholtz Association. Correct assignment to PoF projects is especially critical for KIT.
For further information on how to use ▶ Docata, consult the information factsheets that become available after you log in to the system.
Doctoral Researchers with Examination at Another University
- Completion of a Written Agreement
With doctoral researchers who will obtain their degree from another university but will be supervised at KIT for at least two years, you as the subject-specific supervisor conclude a ▶ written agreement instead of a doctoral agreement.
Please use the conclusion of the written agreement deliberately to spell out mutual expectations and to establish a binding framework for jointly shaping the doctoral phase. The ▶ Guidelines for the Doctorate at KIT provide useful guidance and ideas.
- Registration with KHYS and Use of Docata
After the written agreement has been signed, each doctoral researcher must register obligatorily in ▶ Docata, the central web portal for early‑career researchers at KIT.
Please ensure that each doctoral researcher has a ▶ KIT account. Doctoral researchers employed by KIT receive a KIT account automatically as part of the hiring process. A KIT account can be issued to doctoral researchers who are funded externally – such as scholarship holders or external doctoral candidates – through the Guest and Partner Administration.
- Further Formal Steps
Doctoral candidates who will defend their thesis at another university must follow that university’s formal procedures.
- Your Benefit from Docata
As the responsible (subject-specific) supervisor, you can view a concise summary of key framework data of the doctoral progress via Docata. In the portal you can review and edit information about the registered researchers’ projects, such as assignment to PoF projects and type of cooperation. These data are essential for KIT’s statutory reporting obligations including the doctoral researcher statistics and reporting to the Helmholtz Association. Correct assignment to PoF projects is especially critical for KIT.
For further information on how to use ▶ Docata, consult the information factsheets that become available after you log in to the system.